Significance of Red Star Weekly as an online edition.

                                     

A little more than a century and half ago, even when the Communist ideas were beginning to be talked about and the proletarians, the oppressed were beginning to  get organized, the new propertied classes and all their backers had united in launching most vicious attacks against it. The Communist Manifesto, prepared by Marx and Engels and published in 1948, started its analysis of the new world situation and the challenges faced by the proletarians and the oppressed, by pointing this out as: “A spectre is haunting Europe- the spectre of Communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered in to a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Matternich and Guizot, French radicals and German police spies”.  Even today, in spite of the severe set backs it could inflict upon the socialist camp and in spite of the degeneration of most of the former revolutionary forces, communist parties, to social democratic positions, the US led imperialists and their lackeys along with their new earned friends who are hoodwinking the masses by raising red flag to destroy red flag have not reduced the intensity of the anti-communist counter revolutionary offensive.

In spite of it, these are days when decades after these set backs suffered by the revolutionary movement internationally, once again the significance of the slogan: Countries wants independence, nations want liberation and people want revolution is more urgently felt. Even in the belly of the beast, the US imperialism, working class and oppressed masses are renewing the Occupy Wall Street movement with more vigour. If the US imperialists, their allies and the Zionists are planning for opening another war front after their not so glorious experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Iran, it is not a sign of their victorious advance but the reflection of the intensity of the crisis the imperialist system is confronting. The new edition of stagflation and resultant crisis faced by the international finance capital has reached such a serious level that except by promoting war industry, intensifying the plunder of the countries subjected to neo-colonial order and launching of aggressions against those who do not fully fit in to their hegemonic system, they have no other way outs left. In justifying and propagating these barbaric loot and aggressions, besides the most modern destructive weapons, they are using the media with all its new possibilities to justify their heinous actions. Imperialists and their lackeys are creating public opinion to perpetuate their barbaric hegemony in all fields. And when they found that taking a leaf from their practice, the working class and the oppressed peoples are trying to utilize the very same means of communication to create public opinion to revolt against them, they are frantically seeking methods to suppress these channels for the masses. The new offensive by the imperialists and their lackeys everywhere to suppress the online avenues opened before the people to communicate freely should be seen in this context.

When the enemy is thus intensifying its hegemony in every field in this manner, it is the task of the revolutionaries to challenge them in whichever way possible, utilizing whatever facilities are available. Last one year witnessed many revolts, mass upsurges in a number of countries starting from Tunisia and Egypt against imperialists and their lackeys. At least in some countries people have succeeded in overthrowing some of the worst dictators also. If it was the objective situation intensifying the fundamental contradictions which aroused the masses, in almost all these revolts the new electronic communication facilities were used by the popular forces in mobilization of the masses. Internationally the working class and the oppressed peoples have learned from these experiences and have started utilizing these communication channels everywhere.

Our experience, though limited is also positive in this respect. If due to our limited publication facilities and organizational reach the ideological political offensive launched by the CPI (ML) could not be taken to larger sections, though these problems still continue to remain in taking our printed material to the vast masses, in taking the ideological offensive to the new generation, many of whom are utilizing the modern communication facilities, important gains could be achieved. It is in this context, based on our experience in utilizing the modern communication facilities, the new Central Committee elected by the Ninth Party Congress has decided to launch Red Star Weekly as an online edition. It is hoped that the friends and comrades of the revolutionary movement shall fully utilize this new effort to launch the ideological political offensive with full vigour.

We shall be emailing Red Star Weekly to you on every Saturday. Please collect as many email addresses as possible and forward it to as many friends as possible. To make it successful your cooperation is fully needed. As it is going to focus on news and views as a tabloid, please send all the news about the struggles taking place around you, not only under the leadership of CPI (ML) committees or class/ mass organizations politically led by it, but under the initiative of various popular forces including the spontaneous upsurges taking place nationally and internationally. Please go on sending these news and views to our email address continuously so that they can be edited and published. The enemy has successfully utilized information as a weapon to create public opinion in the most reactionary manner during the last century or more to spread slander and calumny against all the independence struggles of the countries, liberation movements of oppressed nations and revolutionary struggles of the people. So in order to counter it in whichever way and to whatever extent possible let us mobilize all our efforts and make a counter offensive against the barbarous imperialist system and its lackeys who are lording over the people nationally and internationally.

We are bringing the first issue of Red Star Weekly as an online publication to you on 4^th February, 2012. Immediately send it to all your friends and to all email addresses known to you. Then send your criticisms and suggestions and contributions in the form of brief news and views. Together let us make it a great venture which will reach hundreds of thousands of our friends, comrades, publications and masses who utilize the new information technology.